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<p>This comes from another thread. I think this is a good thread to start, so here it is.</p>
<p>I think that the list will be very short. Why would any college want to pay to attract mediocre students? There’s nothing for the college in that kind of deal.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see what colleges are mentioned. Surely students who are mediocre from the point of view of some colleges may be strong applicants for some other colleges. But I don’t know how many colleges have significant ability to offer discounts from list price (which is what “merit scholarships” usually are, rather than money in the pocket).</p>
<p>Anyone get leadership, geographic diversity scholarships? My son got one of these.</p>
<p>More important to me is how many good, but not stellar students keep their merit scholarships for all 4 years.</p>
<p>I think this thread could have some real value, but I certainly won’t be naming any schools…“mediocre students” is both too subjective and too damning for thoughtful contributions, IMO.</p>
<p>Students generally get large merit scholarships at colleges a step below their level, meaning that great students get large scholarships at good schools, and mediocre students get large scholarships only at bad schools. I’m not sure whether bad colleges are all that worth attending in the first place.</p>
<p>You can find large scholarships that will pay tuition, fees, room and board at many lesser-known (2nd tier) state schools for an ACT score in the 28-31 range. Not that I think these are “mediocre” scores–they are very good scores, but students with these scores might not even be admitted to top schools. Partial academic merit scholarshps are available even to students in the ACT 24-25+ range at these schools. If finances are your main concern, and your scores are not sky high, check out your smaller or less selective public universities.</p>
<p>Athletic scholarships.</p>
<p>How about we retitle this “Merit Scholarships for Students with B/B+ averages and 1100-1200 SATs?” That’s probably the way many here on CC would define “mediocre” (which, of course, it is not!)</p>
<p>If we do so, I could name quite a few schools where you’d automatically qualify for some nifty merit money. :)</p>
<p>Feel free to contribute according to any definitions you like. Someone in the other thread was interested in this issue, and I just thought I would get the new thread started for anyone who had something to say about the issue.</p>
<p>I have a scholarship for full tuition for having a 28 on ACT and having a high school GPA of 3.52. This is to a state school that is constantly ranked up there in a few national and regional things.</p>
<p>Well, the way I find merit scholarships is this: Go to google advanced. Limit your domain search to .edu. Then search for cutoffs near the student’s stats, i.e., “Merit scholarships for 1200 SAT” or “Merit scholarships 3.5 GPA” - that’s the best way to narrow down schools where a particular student is likely to get merit money. :)</p>
<p>I’m with atomom on this one. Less selective state schools sometimes make merit based offers to strong applicants that combine generous financial aid packages with great educational opportunities. My daughter is a case in point. She’s graduating with a 3.9 GPA, scored in the 98th percentile on the ACT, has about 40 semester hours of college credit already from AP and college courses taken while in high school, recruited athlete, great ECs and recs, etc. She’s interested in large animal veterinary medicine, so her choices for schools are relatively limited. She looked at Cornell and hated it. Her counselor suggested that she look at some midwestern publics, including Kansas State University. We were skeptical, but we visited and we both felt that it was a perfect fit for her. Strong preveterinary program, great vet school, nice facilities and an incredibly friendly and approachable faculty, staff and student body. So she applied. We didn’t expect much, but she’s already been awarded a half-tuition merit scholarship for all four years, automatic admission to the honors program, and a possibility of more scholarship money within her particular college (Agriculture) as well as for athletics (equestrian team). In addition to her overall academic resume, it probably doesn’t hurt that she’s from New England, which makes her attractive to a midwestern school for diversity purposes. My guess is that she’ll probably accept K-State’s merit offer. As a Duke graduate, I must admit that I first looked down a bit upon K-State but, having spoken with a few people and done some research, my opinion has changed. I was surprised, for example, to find this: <a href=“Admissions at Kansas State University”>Admissions at Kansas State University; It just goes to show that you should never overlook “lesser” schools simply on the basis of prestige. I truly think that my daughter would have been miserable at Cornell, but that she’ll flourish at K-State – and it’s a bargain. Just my two cents . . .</p>
<p>Momfromtexas started a great thread on free rides, not just for kids with high stats.</p>
<p>Yes, the Google search Carolyn suggests turns up quite a few merit scholarships for schools that are certainly not no-name schools, for GPA and test score profiles that don’t seem out of the question for many high school students.</p>
<p>Definition of Mediocre and Big Merit Money is in the eye of the beholder I guess. </p>
<p>My twins both scored 32 on the ACT and have a uw GPA of 3.95. I didn’t think that was mediocre until I started reading this forum LOL. (actually I am quite proud of their accomplishments)</p>
<p>Their safeties, all out of state public U’s, have mostly offered merit scholarships of $7,000 - $15,000 a year for 4 years. Most are tier 2 schools mixed with a couple of tier 1 and 3 schools with strong departments in their majors. We are still waiting on department specific scholarships and any need based aid. I suspect more money would be coming from tier 4 schools but none of those we visited really seemed to interest the boys.</p>
<p>The pattern seems to be to get the out of state tuition down to in state levels to help attract the out of state students. A few have gone below in-state tuition but not by much.</p>
<p>I know that my friend got really hefty scholarships at both OWU and McDaniel. Her GPA is only a 3.0.</p>
<p>I think what it comes down to is that no college is going to want a “mediocre” student, but for kids who have taken a lot of AP classes, score very high on the SATs, and can write…well, to many colleges, even if they only pulled off a B-average in highschool that is not “mediocre”. So, smaller, lesser-known privates will dish out the biggest merit awards, usually to kids who may have a B-average but have high SAT scores and/or good writing skills.</p>
<p>Decent students can get an ROTC scholarship if they are in good physical condition with no health issues and have decent EC’s and recs. Those scholarships pay for tuition & fees, a book allowance, and a monthly stipend. Some universities (Ohio University is one) throw in free room & board for those on ROTC scholarship. There is a 4 year military obligation (as a commissioned officer) upon graduation as well as some 3-4 week training obligations during the summers.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: Obviously, no one should apply for an ROTC scholarship if they are not willing to serve in our country’s military wholeheartedly.</p>
<p>S’s scores were 760 cr, 780 m, 650 wr. Grades around 2.7 unweighted. He was a National Achievement semi finalist. A representative from North Carolina Central visited S’s school and offered him a large merit scholarship that included extra perks if he were to major in the sciences.</p>
<p>This may be OT but related–I heard an appalling statistic on the radio that only 1 in 6 of students who start college ever finish. Doesn’t seem possible but it would indicate that a lot of students who enter college shouldn’t be there. (If we’re talking about truly mediocre students, which I don’t think includes the above posters.)</p>
<p>Of course there are other reasons for dropping out, such as financial.</p>
<p>And they didn’t explain if that includes students that “drop out” to finish at another school. So if they’re only looking at freshman starts that would skew the numbers.</p>